The invention relates to knife sharpening systems, and more particularly to knife sharpening systems which are matched to particular knives so that the knives can be resharpened by a user.
Knives have been used and sharpened since prehistoric times. Modern knives having finely angled edges are difficult to sharpen and maintain by average unskilled persons. Sharpening at too steep of an angle will dull a knife because the edge of the knife is partially removed. On the other hand, sharpening at an angle that is not steep enough accomplishes nothing because the edge of the knife is essentially untouched by the sharpening device. The variety of knives having various lengths, shapes, knife-edge angles, and presence or absence of serrations make it very difficult for the unskilled user to properly sharpen a variety of knives.
There accordingly remains a need for a tool for sharpening particular knives which can also serve as a storage device for the knives.
The knife sharpening system of the invention provides a base upon which a knife or knives can be placed and preferably engaged, a guide rail spaced an appropriate distance apart from the edge of the knife placed on the base and having a top surface at a lower level than the level of the knife blade placed on the base. When a sharpening implement, such as a sharpening stone, is rested on the guide rail and on the knife""s edge and is moved across the guide rail and the knife""s edge, an appropriate sharpening angle is placed on the knife. The guide rail will preferably follow the contour of the knife""s edge from the tip of the knife to the edge of the knife closest to the handle so as to maintain an appropriate sharpening angle from the tip to the base of the knife, but could be spaced apart by different distances.
The knife sharpening system of the invention preferably has a means to secure the handle of the knife in place and support the blade during sharpening, which knife sharpening system can also serve as a storage tool for the knife when not in use.
These and other aspects of the invention will be described in greater detail below.